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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam
The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.
Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.
Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!
Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.
Click here to report a problem with this page.
Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- mr.alex@gardener.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Robert S Mueller" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mr.robert@usa.com>
Date: Thu, 19 May 2011 02:32:10 +0800
Subject: Vital Instruction Regarding Your Funds..
Attention: Beneficairy.
This is to Officially inform you that it has come to our notice and we have thoroughly completed and Investigated with the help of our Intelligence Monitoring Network System that you are having an illegal transaction with Impostors claiming to be some banks top officers in Africa or whatever and some impostors claiming to be the Agents of Federal Bureau Of Investigation. During our Investigation, it came to our notice that the reason why you have not received your funds in the total of $9.5M USD is because you have not fulfilled your Financial Obligation given to you in respect to her transaction.
In this light, we have contacted the World Bank of Switzerland Co-ordinator on your behalf and they have brought a solution to your problem by co-coordinating your payment in the total amount of $9.5M USD which will be deposited into A Switzerland Bank account directly without further delays. You now have the lawful right to withdraw your funds which will be deposited directly into your account.
Since the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been involved in this transaction, you are now rest assured that this transaction is totally legitimate and completely risk-free as it is our duty to Protect and Serve citizens of the United States Of America and the World at large. All you have to do is immediately contact the World Bank of Switzerland Co-ordinator via E-mail for instructions on how to procure your Approval Slip which contains your off-shore account details.
CONTACT INFORMATION
World Bank of Switzerland Co-ordinator.
OFF-SHORE ACCOUNT UNIT
NAME: Mr. Alex Gardner
e-MAIL: mr.alex@gardener.com
Federal Bureau Investigation
Robert S. Mueller Director, FBI
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Anti-fraud resources:
